During a recent event at at the new Morales Cuban Restaurant in Port Charlotte, cigar maker Ovel Concepción gently rolls a cigar binder in a soft, moist tobacco leaf, known as a wrapper, and dabs a bit of cigar "glue" to the leaf to hold everything together.

SUN PHOTO BY BRENDA BARBOSA

Fourth-generation cigar maker Ovel Concepción, foreground, is joined by fellow cigar aficionados, from left, Louis Leonarda, James White, Jose Gonzalez and Cristian Hidalgo, at the new Morales Cuban Restaurant on Tamiami Trail in Port Charlotte. The popular Cuban restaurant, previoulsy located in downtown Punta Gorda, held a hand-rolled cigar demonstration Thursday night as part of its new weekly lineup of entertainment.

SUN PHOTO BY BRENDA BARBOSA

Morales Cuban Restaurant, formerly located in downtown Punta Gorda, has moved to a new and bigger space at 3492 Tamiami Trail, Port Charlotte. It celebrated its grand opening last week. Patrons will still enjoy the same authentic, home-cooked Cuban food and friendly service as the previous location, with the added pleasure of weekly entertainment. Owner Dayami Morales has expanded her catering menu and will feature live music, salsa dancing, domino games and hand-rolled cigar demonstrations on the weekends.

SUN PHOTO BY BRENDA BARBOSA

Cigar-making demonstrations are part of the weekly entertainment at the newly reopened Morales Cuban Restaurant in Port Charlotte.

SUN PHOTO BY BRENDA BARBOSA

Cigar maker Ovel Concepción hand-rolls his tobacco creations with the kind of precision only a fourth-generation cigar maker from Cuba has. Concepcion was demonstrating his skills at the grand ppening of the new Morales Cuban Restaurant in Port Charlotte.

By BRENDA BARBOSA

Staff Writer

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PORT CHARLOTTE — Ovel Concepción, a fourth-generation cigar maker born and raised in Cuba, doesn’t remember exactly how old he was when he started smoking. He was definitely in the double digits, as far as he can recall — but not by much.

“Honestly, I can’t remember,” he said. “When you grow up around tobacco like I did, it just becomes part of your life.”

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